Press Release: The jubilant crew of Cork, Ireland, has arrived in Cape Town after taking victory in Race 3, the South Atlantic leg, of the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race. They crossed the finish line in Table Bay at 1638 local time (1438 GMT), accompanied by a pod of dolphins surfing down the face of the waves.
The Irish team, led by skipper Richie Fearon, has led the race for the last six days, working themselves into an unassailable position to claim their first win of the 35,000-mile challenge of a lifetime.
Team Finland has scored their third podium finish in as many races, finishing in second place. The team, led by Helsinki-born skipper, Eero Lehtinen, crossed the finish line in Table Bay, Cape Town in pitch darkness and heavy seas at 0028 local time (2228 UTC, Thursday 12 November).
Team Finland arrived just ahead of Uniquely Singapore who finished at 0159 local time (2359 UTC) and did not let up the pressure on their rivals throughout the closing stages of the 3,300-mile race from Rio de Janeiro.
During the early stages of the race Eero admitted they were finding it hard to get back into their rhythm after the stopover in Rio and Team Finland had to fight all the way for their points in this race.
“I’d say half way was the hardest and then we came quite nicely through and the end was actually amazingly easy overtaking the last couple of boats,” he said. “At the start our tactical choices were not brilliant – we were playing the very conservative middle ground, not going either way very much and, to be honest, we were looking at Spirit of Australia quite a lot. When we split away it was a very good move going south so we left them and never looked back. Twenty-nine points out of 30 isn’t bad – we just have to work out how to get the scoring gates right then it’s nearly perfect!”
Uniquely Singapore arrived just behind Team Finland. An exhausted Uniquely Singapore skipper, Jim Dobie was very pleased with his team’s performance. As he stepped off the yacht onto the pontoon at Royal Cape Yacht Club he said, “We’ve got the taste for it now – you don’t want to let go when you get the podium places. It was a hard fought battle and a tough race. Fast and furious – superb! We had two slightly disappointing races to begin with but now we’ve clicked and we’re back into it. The team feels like a racing team now and we’re definitely going to keep our place up the top.”
The rest of the ten strong fleet, including Jamaica Lightning Bolt, Hull & Humber, Qingdao, Spirit of Australia, Edinburgh Inspiring Capital, Cape Breton Island and California are due to finish in the next few days and are all expected in Cape Town by Sunday afternoon.
The whole fleet will move to the V&A Waterfront on Friday 20 November where the yachts will be available for public viewing. The race will restart on Sunday 22 November, the yachts departing the V&A at 11am for start of the race from Cape Town to Geraldton-Greenhough, Western Australia, at 2pm.
Photo: Clipper Ventures PLC
- – -
If you’re in Cape Town, make your way to marina. Say hello to crews for me.
